We just got back from our annual trek to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival (and more). I’ll post some pictures soon, but in the meantime here is a short synopsis of what we did. Enjoy, and maybe we’ll see you there next year…
Tuesday August 31
We took the Super Shuttle to the airport, and you know, once you are on the shuttle then you are on vacation. It was a quick flight to the Seattle Airport (SEA-TAC). The city of Seattle recently built a light rail line from downtown to the airport (they are way ahead of us) so we tried it. It was much better than a bus and only $2.50. We checked into our hotel, The Camlin, and even thought we were a little early our room was ready. Nice. First stop for us hungry travelers was nearby Cyber-Dogs. This is a great place, all vegetarian, with awesome and filling dogs with lots of toppings and combinations. Suitably stuffed, we went to the grocery store and bought a few supplies to keep with us back at the hotel for quick breakfasts and snacks. Then we took a walk up to the nearby Capital Hill neighborhood. We had been told about a great bookstore (Elliot Bay Bookstore), which we visited, and just by chance there was a record store next door (Everyday Music). So what could we do but go there too! We helped out both stores financially. On the way back we picked up a little Black Butte Porter for the hotel refrigerator and realized we were hungry again. We grabbed some to-go food at a PF Chang’s near the hotel and took it back there to eat. This was a very good first day.
Wednesday September 1
We had a light breakfast in the room and then were ready to head out into the great city of Seattle. First, though, we watched a WorldMark presentation about becoming an owner. We are not going to become an owner, but they did give us a $75 gift card for watching. Nice. Actually receiving some money on a vacation, what a nice change! Then we went out, walking down Pine Street toward the waterfront. Right near Pike Place Market we stopped at Piroshky Piroshky and had a piroshky (makes sense, right?). They are delicious. We walked through the huge marketplace and to the ferry pier where we took a ferry ride to Bremerton. It’s about an hour ride and really nice and peaceful. And pretty too. We had ridden a ferry in Seattle before but not to Bremeberton. It turns out that they are developing the area near the ferry terminal there into a collection of galleries, shops, cafes, etc. How cool to stumble onto that! We looked around for a while and then took the ferry back to Seattle. Of course we were hungry again! And we were drawn to a familiar place from previous trips, Mamas Mexican Food. After a huge and delicious plate of food and a couple margaritas, I was ready to get on with the vacation. We walked from there to the Seattle Center. We sat for a while by the International Fountain, which is always soothing and cool. Next stop was the nearby Silver Platters music store, where we managed to find a few more CDs (what a surprise!). Then we took the monorail back to the hotel. Another fun day…
Thursday September 2
Once again we had a little light breakfast in the room and went out to greet the day. We walked the few blocks to the monorail station and it took us to our destination, the Experience Music Project. Seriously, if you like music you HAVE to visit this museum and allow plenty of time. We like it so much we are actually charter members and renew every year! We had some lunch at the nearby Kidd Valley (gardenburger, onion rings) and then caught a free bus downtown. Seattle has excellent public transportation, including a free ride zone downtown and the surrounding area. We need some of their public transportation know-how around here. But anyway, our next stop was Seattle’s City Hall. On display there was an art exhibit of 40 Years of Bumbershoot Posters. Yep, the artwork for the Festival, always nice art and it was fun to look at some of the artist lineups for previous years. Then we walked down (up?) the street to the Seattle Art Museum. After about ten years of coming to Seattle, we finally made it to the SAM. Good timing too, since there was an interesting exhibit about Kurt Cobain and also an Andy Warhol media exhibit. And the best news? Oh yeah, the first Thursday of each month is FREE. Yes, today! Free! I love it. I would have paid but I’d rather not. Of course, those two exhibits I mentioned were the special exhibits. They also had all the permanent collection of the museum. We spent quite a bit of time there and both enjoyed it. But wait! There’s more. We walked over to the First Thurday Art Walk. We checked out the vendors and a few shops. By that time we were getting hungry and we started walking back to the hotel, looking for a restaurant on the way. We found one, Pabla Indian. Plenty of vegetarian choices (as usual for Indian food). We finished the walk, much fuller, and found ourselves back at the hotel. Another great day in Seattle!
Coming soon – The rest of the vacation! Check back…
Sounds like the usual BShoot week, non-stop fun for all. You didn’t visit Five Points or the Clown Bar??? Maybe later in the week.
No, we ran out of time. We walked by the Five Points one day but were on our way so we didn’t stop. Lots of exciting stuff later in the week though, stay tuned!
Missed you guys!